I would suggest the glorious Burning Empires, because I think ten sessions will get you through a full phase of the Infection mechanics. And with your mettle thus sufficiently tested, you’ll be able to determine whether you’ll ever want to play BE again, and you’ll also be so damned badass that running/playing any other RPG will seem like a cozy afternoon nap.

< ![CDATA[Hahahah. I've never played this, but have heard from someone who has, and it seems everything you've said is pretty much spot on!
What I really want to do is hack this (which seems pretty simple) and just play Burning Wheel in spaaaaaaaaaaaceee!]]>

Yes, I do! But haven’t gotten either to the table. But I’d favor hacking BE, because BE is, like 2 minimal hacks removed from being a Burning Warhammer 40K campaign (like Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn books, if you’ve read that). Now all I need to do is get people interested in playing that (better yet, running it and me playing it)

< ![CDATA[Yes, I do! But haven't gotten either to the table. But I'd favor hacking BE, because BE is, like 2 minimal hacks removed from being a Burning Warhammer 40K campaign (like Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn books, if you've read that). Now all I need to do is get people interested in playing that (better yet, running it and me playing it)]]>

I think a generic-ish space adventure BW hack would do very well! I took a swing at that project using Mouse Guard as the foundation, and we talked about publishing it but I feel like it’d need much more development time. There are also things about Mouse Guard that I’d have to think about some. Like how the abstract conflict rules map over.

< ![CDATA[Errybody wants to use BE for Burning Wheel in Spaaaace.
I think a generic-ish space adventure BW hack would do very well! I took a swing at that project using Mouse Guard as the foundation, and we talked about publishing it but I feel like it’d need much more development time. There are also things about Mouse Guard that I’d have to think about some. Like how the abstract conflict rules map over.]]>

Burning Empires blew my gaming mind when we played it. Every campaign I’ve run after BE has angled towards that 10-session “HBO season” timeframe, and even if we go longer or shorter, the idea of having a campaign that is designed to end and not trying to keep characters safe, but actively seeking out meaningful drama and conflict… well, it’s not just BE that does that, but BE was the game where I learned that.

< ![CDATA[Burning Empires blew my gaming mind when we played it. Every campaign I've run after BE has angled towards that 10-session "HBO season" timeframe, and even if we go longer or shorter, the idea of having a campaign that is designed to end and not trying to keep characters safe, but actively seeking out meaningful drama and conflict… well, it’s not just BE that does that, but BE was the game where I learned that.]]>